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Dead Frontier/Issue 106
This is Issue #106 of Dead Frontier, titled The End, Part II. ''This is the fourth issue in '''Volume 18.' Issue 106 - The End, Part II The infected won’t let up. They’ve culminated before Lane’s gates faster than they can comprehend. Bullets fly into the crowd, but the effect they have is nearly nonexistent. If one falls, another quickly takes its place, negating any progress they make in clearing the herd. Any able adults--which, they can all admit, aren’t very much--stand atop the gates, crouched side by side with only a foot in between them. They’ve been ordered the fire--and don’t stop until the last one’s down. Dean has some kind of rifle in his hands. Guns aren’t his specialty, so the specific name of it slips from his mind. He holds it awkwardly, firing and reloading at a pathetic speed compared to those around him. He looks to Mae and Winston quickly and takes the time to roll his eyes at how efficiently they’re able to handle their weapons. He pulls the trigger once again; he’s surprised when he doesn’t feel the usual power of the gun knock him back. He tries again, but is met with the same result. He’s ready to announce that he’s out, to order someone to get him some more ammo, when he squints into the distance. Maybe half a mile behind the wall of undead, he’s sure he can see a fleet of identical cars come to an abrupt halt. It’s just a group of cars, but with their ominous presence, the anxiety washes over him immediately. Without warning the others, Deans hops from the gate, landing roughly on his feet. A few of the others retract their focus from the herd and look down on him, some even following his lead, including Winston and Mae. “What are you doing?” Mae shouts to Dean over the gunfire. Before he can retreat, she grabs him by the shoulder, forcing him to turn. His eyes dart around, filled with worry, something she finds wholly unusual. “I saw some cars---they just stopped, right behind the herd,” he explains hurriedly. “Wait, wait, what are you--” Winston starts. “I think I saw some people getting out but that’s all I know--but the point is this herd isn’t getting any smaller, and we’ve got kids in there. We need to get out.” The fact that there's an indomitable herd right outside a building housing poorly supervised children, most likely scared out of their minds, fills him with dread. Add to that the familiar sight of the black convoy of SUVs, his first thought is escape. “We can’t just leave, man.” “We’re gonna have to--” He’s cut off when a body falls from the gate, landing at his feet with a smack he can hear over the gunfire. He, Winston, and Mae jump back and look down at Stephanie, a bullet hole perfectly placed in the center of her forehead. Someone else collapses, suffering the same fate. A few others jump down from the gate; one woman receives a shot to her back before she can complete her escape. Dean, Mae, and Winston have already ran; the others behind them do the same, but they break right, away from the school building instead of inside. Winston takes a brief glance behind him, where he’s met with the increasingly unstable gates swaying with the weight of infected pressing against it. It’s no match against their numbers, and by the time he’s inside, a few have broken through. ---- Lienne sits silently, unmoving, on the floor of the suite. He eyes are fixated on the counter a few feet directly in front of her; she stares blankly, knees pulled up to her chest, the adrenaline of the events of just a few hours ago finally wearing off. She looks to her left, out the window, and sees a disturbing view of the second tower; an entire section of it is blown to bits, leaving only debris in the attackers’ wake. She takes a shuddering breath and looks away, once again focusing her stare on the maroon-colored counter. Cole sits to her right. Time was all it took for some of the color to reappear in his face and that defeated look to seep from his eyes. “What do we do?” she mumbles after sitting in silence for a while. Cole thinks for a few seconds. “Do you think they’re gone?” “I think.” But it’s just an assumption, since there hasn’t been any movement out the window, and they haven’t heard a sound from outside this room. "You wanna just wait a little longer? Just to be safe?" She nods solemnly and sets her head on her knees. It's easy to tell she's absolutely exhausted, from the dejected look on her face to her unusual quietness. He thinks of something to say, the most positive thing that comes to mind. "We got really lucky today," he says. She lifts her head slightly to look at him. "What do you think happened to them?" she suddenly asks, ignoring his statement. It's obviously a question that's been circling in her mind the entire time. "What?" "Did you notice? They weren't trying to kill us. Not most of us, I guess. Like with me, the guy--he tried to tie me up or something, tie up my wrists, I think. Then, with everyone else, it's like...they tried their best not to kill anyone. Instead, they just carried them away. They have to be taking them somewhere...right?" "I--I don't know. I didn't even know...I mean, if this was Roxie, I thought she'd just wanna kill us." "That's what I thought, too. I can’t wrap my head around why, though. The only thing I can think of is she’s so fucking bitter that she thought of something worse than just mowing us all down. But...I don’t know, that doesn’t really seem like her style to me." “It might not even be her. I know I didn’t see her,” he says. “Me either.” She lets out a sigh as another possible explanation comes to a dead end. The thought of anyone in the hands of these people, who are obviously without good intentions, stresses her mind even more. Cole closes the small space between them by scooting closer to her; his exhaustion and the relentless pain in his leg makes the movement unsurprisingly difficult. He puts a comforting arm around her shoulders, and she forces herself to relax. But her efforts are useless, because that haunting feeling, that worry, keeps returning. ---- John stands at the front of the group of cars, a sniper in his hands. He fired a few shots and hit a couple of the people perched atop the gates. The rest have begun to flee, hopping off the gate recklessly as the infected bust down the gates. He frowns at the sight of the herd. Bitten people don't make for good business. "Clear the herd first!" he says. Bodies begin to pile out of the vehicles at his order, and they open fire, ripping through the sea of infected. Dean, Mae, and Winston have since made it inside the school safely, but the scene is absolutely chaotic. Undead have bursted through the unguarded doors and begin pursuit of anyone in sight, seeping into the auditorium, the gymnasium, some of the lower level classrooms. Dean realizes his plans of saving anyone he could backfires now that he knows it means risking himself. Mae fires into a group of infected pouring into the gymnasium's entrance. She feels a firm tug on her sleeve. She turns, meeting Winston's frantic eyes, and lowers her gun. "We have to go," he says. "What happened to getting people out?" "Look around! That's not gonna happen! The cafeteria exit...that might be the only one that's not blocked." "Okay, Dean--" Mae starts, and she spins around. But he's not where she last saw him. She scans the area, and spots him sprinting through the confusing mix of living and dead, without even a weapon in his hand. "What the hell is he doing?" "Obviously not coming with us." He tries to lead her away again, but she resists. "Ivy," she says. "He's going for Ivy. Look." Dean sprints to a corner, where Ivy is cowered against the wall. Three infected have homed in on her, and she's silent with fear. She closes her eyes, covers her ears to block out the combination undead howls and gunfire. When she hears a yell, her eyes snap open. Dean's grabbed one of the infected by the neck and thrown it to the ground. The other gets a similar treatment, except he smashes its head into a wall, decorating it with brains and a dark red splatter of blood. The third, he kicks to the floor and gives it a few hard stomps to the head. He pauses to crouch down in front of Ivy. “I’m gonna get you out of here, okay?” Dean says through labored breaths. Ivy can only manage to nod and blink back the tears. She grabs his hand tight, and they run back to Mae and Winston. Mae uses the last of her bullets to mow down a few infected and give them a clear path to the cafeteria. They rush through the cafeteria doors. A few people are there, muttering amongst themselves, completely unaware of anything going outside. “Out, out, out!” Winston shouts at them, but he doesn’t wait to see if they follow his instructions. But then Ivy stops, pulling on Dean’s arm. “Ivy, we don’t have time--” he tries to explain. “I think my mom’s upstairs,” she says. Dean looks behind him to see that Mae and Winston have already reached the exit. “We can’t go back for her. There’s--I don’t think there’s anyway we can get back upstairs.” “You’re just gonna leave her?” she asks in a near shout. Dean can practically hear the clock ticking. “We just--we need to get out now, and we’ll come back. We’ll come back and bring her to...to wherever we’re going.” She doesn’t even have to say a word--he can already tell how skeptical she is. “I promise.” She swallows hard and turns her head to the gymnasium, the source of the commotion. No matter how much she wants to go back...she’s smart enough to know she’s no match against any number of undead. And she’s sure she can hear the sincerity in Dean’s voice. “Okay,” she says. She tightens her grip on his hand again and follows him reluctantly. ---- A muffled sound drifts inside the suite from the hall. Lienne, suddenly realizing she dozed off, hears it and snaps awake. Cole snores next to her, still in his same position sitting on the floor, lost in a peaceful sleep. She feels bad waking him but shakes his shoulder anyway. After a few tired, annoyed groans, he opens his eyes. “What?” he asks irritably. “I heard someone outside,” she whispers. “You sure?” “Yeah--listen, there it is again.” This time, the voices are more distinct. Listening closely, something catches her ear: a voice that sounds terribly familiar. She rises to her feet and rushes to the door. Her hastily-constructed barricade made of a dresser and mattress blocks the door, but she hurries to move them out of the way. They’re right outside. A smile forms on her face. When she opens the door, she’s met with the faces of Dre, Tora, and Jake. Their expressions never veer from shock caused by their initial fear, then happiness. Dre almost laughs in surprise. Seeing her here, in one piece, was the last thing he expected. “What are you doing out here?” Lienne asks as she hugs him. She embraces Tora next, then even gives Jake an affectionate ruffle of his hair. “Me and Dre were camped out on the third floor for a while,” Tora explains. She wrings her hands together absentmindedly. “When we left, we ran into Jake and now...we’re here. We can’t agree on where’s the best place to go.” “What about you?” Dre asks. “I had the same idea,” Lienne says. “I just hid in there with Cole for a little while.” “He’s okay, too?” Lienne pushes the door open a little wider. Cole leans forward just enough so that his head is visible, and gives a small wave. “Hi,” he says. “He’s alright,” Lienne assures. “He just can’t walk. So Dre...you’re gonna be his crutch.” Already exhausted from the day, Dre groans. But there’s no time to complain, so he moves past Lienne, into the room, and crouches down next to Cole. “Which leg is it again?” Dre asks. “Right,” Cole confirms. “Okay, whatever you do, don’t use that leg.” “Trust me, I won’t. I’m slowing you down enough already.” It takes a bit of a struggle, but Dre lifts him to his feet. Just that drains the last of Cole’s energy; how he’s going to get down the stairs and out the hotel, he doesn’t know. He wraps his arm around Dre's shoulder and leans on him for support. "Wow, we've never been this close before," Cole mumbles, easing the tension just a little. Dre grins as he leads him out of the room. "Good one, but now's not the time. Gotta stay focused, man." As they proceed down the hall, Tora formulates a plan out loud. "We've barely heard a sound for hours. That means, almost everyone's gone. If everyone's gone, the parking lot should be clear." "But...we don't have keys to any of the cars," Lienne points out. "I can just hotwire one. We're good," Dre says. "Just don't ask me how I learned." ---- Nico and Kendra’s only safe haven is this cramped supply closet. It’s the first place they could think to hide after rushing downstairs towards the hysteria. Intercepted by a group of infected, they took a detour down the nearest hallway. Except, that hall was blocked, too. With no way out, this was their only possible hideaway. Nico paces around the small space. No weapon, infected pounding on the door, the entire school in a frenzy. And he has no idea what to do. “They told me it was under control,” he mutters for the umpteenth time. Last he heard, the infected were being taken care of, at least somewhat. So he pushed some of his worries aside. But now they’re inside, and he can’t even begin to guess how many. Dozens? That would be thinking optimistically. He guesses over a hundred. Maybe everyone’s already dead. There’s no way he would know. “It was,” Kendra says. “Then how does this happen?” “I’m just ask confused as you are. Just relax.” “I can’t relax right now. Are you kidding me? Are you forgetting your own kid is out there?” “No, I didn’t,” she says, the smallest bits of anger and fear in her voice. “But if I keep worrying about that, I won’t be able to think straight, which is what we need to do right now, Nico.” He stops pacing for the first time since they entered and covers his face with his hands. He slumps against the nearest wall in a gesture of defeat and groans loudly. “This is so messed up,” he mutters. But Kendra doesn’t hear him over the incessant banging outside. “Such a fuck up…” They sit, speechless, for a long time, every second without a word only adding to the tenseness of the atmosphere. For the first time, they hear gunshots, breaking the monotony of the groaning. Their attention is drawn to the unusual sound, and they soon hear the stomping of footsteps approaching from down the hall. There’s a slew of unfamiliar voices, freezing Nico and Kendra in their spots. “Who--” he starts, but she shushes him harshly. “...some people in there...banging on the door,” they hear someone say. There’s another bang, this time more forceful than anything the infected could do. Kendra flinches. They’re coming inside. “What do we do?” she whispers. “I don’t--I dunno. Just stay quiet for now,” he replies just as quietly. He scans the room, as does she, looking for some form of defense. His eyes dart to a dark corner of the room, where a few rusted, dirty pipes are arranged. He crouches down in front of it, and pulls at one of the pipes. It doesn’t budge, only making an eerie creaking sound. He pulls again, this time harder, and removes one of the rusted pipes from the rest. He tests it out in his hands, gets a feel for it. Kendra grabs ahold of his arm and gives him a look of disbelief. “You think you’ve got any chance with that?” she asks harshly. “This is her. This has to be her. I knew when we didn’t find her body in the attack, she wasn’t gonna give up,” he says. “And I’m not going out without a fight, okay?” The hinges on the door begin to shudder with each hit. The realization that these are her last moments hit Kendra hard, and she wonders where Ivy is right now. But she doesn’t have time to dwell on it; the door flings open, and the first thing Nico does is charge at one of the attackers. The pipe smacks the man across the face, hitting him directly in the eye. Blood drips down his cheek, but Nico keeps the blows coming. The other men stand behind him, stunned for just a split second. The man manages to push Nico away, back into the supply closet. In their panic, they fire, filling the room with bullets. “Jesus Christ, what the fuck was that?!” the man says, holding onto the side of his face. Through his good eye, he looks down at Nico and Kendra’s twitching bodies. He uses his foot to turn Nico over, and picks up the rusted pipe, now tainted with his blood. He throws it back on the ground in disgust. ---- After what seems like forever and a day, Dre, Cole, Tora, Lienne, and Jake reach the lot. Cars fill the center, but the perimeter is encircled with infected, most of them pouring into tower 2. Their presence immediately draws the attention of some infected, so they work fast, choosing the first truck they see. The door’s already open, and with Cole being the main priority, Dre slides him into the back. He winces, and Dre mutters a curt apology. He transfers to the driver’s seat and works on getting the car started. With Jake out of bullets and Lienne without a weapon, Tora takes the lead in clearing the approaching infected. She pushes away her nervousness and is the epitome of focus, firing each shot with care. “Dre...almost done?” Lienne asks, peeking her head through the window. “I...uh...yeah, hold on,” he says. He mutters a curse under his breath. “Yo, just get in the car!” Lienne and Jake comply, moving in next to Cole. “Tora! Let’s go!” Lienne shouts before rolling up her window. The wall of infected around her closes in, but she keeps her stance. She needs to buy them a little more time. Just a little. She fires one last shot, the click of her gun the next thing she hears. She smacks the nearest infected with the pistol, knocking its jaw off its face. They’re getting too close now, but the roar of the engine ends her assault. “Got it! I got it!” Dre shouts. Tora’s already ran to the other side of the car, and Dre leans over to open the door for her. She slides in, out of breath. Dre drives off, tires screeching, before she’s even able to close the door. “What the hell was that?” Lienne asks. “I’ve had enough stress for one day. Don’t scare me like that.” “Yeah. Sorry. Got caught up in the moment,” Tora says. “We’re all okay, we’re all fine. Let’s calm down,” Dre says. “We’ve got a car, Cole only looks like he might die--we’re good.” “No I’m--I’m definitely gonna die,” Cole says weakly. “You’re fine,” Lienne assures him. “You’re fine.” ---- Besides the constant drone of the car engine, Duke and Lucy drive in silence. She has control over the wheel, and Duke sits in the passenger, rubbing his temples. With each bump of the uneven road, he feels a sharp pain in the back of his head, bright white lights dancing around his vision. Lucy glances at him. The anguish in his face fills her with concern. "How's your head?" she asks. "It's...alright," he grumbles. "Can we just stop really quick?" She slows the car and pulls it to a stop at the side of the road. The area is barren, besides the shops that line one side of the street and the rows of apartment complexes on the other. "What's the matter?" she asks, cutting off the engine. "Too much damn driving," he says. "I'm sick to my fucking stomach and my head hurts like a bitch." He doesn't wait for her response. Instead, he exits the car and takes care to close the door quietly. He slides down onto the ground and leans back against the passenger-side door. She exits the car as well, but sits on the hood instead. The events of the day begin to settle in her mind as she works to except them as fact, but everything still seems surreal. The Hyatt, the only place she’s lived, the only place she’s known, for nearly a year and a half. Completely and utterly gone, as far as she’s concerned. “We’re never goin’ back there again, are we?” Duke says, breaking her out of her thoughts. “I don’t think we can,” she says after a while. “There’s no way.” He notes the sadness in her voice that she tries to hide unsuccessfully, and feels a wave of sympathy. “I, uh...I’m sorry. I know that place meant a lot to you and...and everybody there…” He trails off and clears his throat. “I’m sorry.” ---- Adam and Chloe walk side by side along the road. Not a single infected in sight, to their surprise. Their walk has mostly been filled with silence, a heavy tension hanging between them. They’re alone, forced to leave behind loved ones, anyone they could, to save themselves. Adam thinks back to Griffin’s face, and Chloe’s expression just at seeing him, and he’s twisted up inside. “You know I didn’t want to leave him,” Adam says. She let’s the shuffling sound of their footsteps fill the air for a few seconds before responding. “I know, I didn’t either. But don’t think I blame you. That’d be ridiculous.” A car suddenly speeds by. Peeking through the windshield, Adam recognizes them as hotel residents. But they don’t bother to stop. Chloe sighs; she wants nothing more than to stop, to end this longest day of her life with a good night’s sleep. “What do we even do?” she asks. The ultimate question that Adam doesn’t have the answer to. “I don’t know. We can find somewhere to stay...find some food. Start from there and take things as they come,” he suggests with a shrug. She gives a solemn nod of agreement. “Look, we got out alive. That’s what matters right now. We’ll figure things out.” They continue their tedious walk. There’s nothing along the way, no shops, no cars to scour through, no infected to get rid of. Nothing at all. The only thing that breaks the dull scene is a car, sitting idly in front of a store. Chloe can barely make out the figure of someone sitting on the hood, head in their hands. Chloe stops, grabbing Adam by his arm. “That’s one of the cars from the lot,” she says. ---- Lucy lifts her head and sees the two stagnant figures ahead. “Duke,” she says. He groans and looks up, squinting against the sunlight. “I think they see us.” “Huh?” He turns his head to see what she does, taking in the pointing figures. “Oh...holy shit, that’s Adam. I’d recognize that fucking jacket anywhere.” “And...Chloe?” “Maybe. Come on.” He gets to his feet painfully and waves his hands wildly above his head. “We come in peace!” he shouts, and Lucy gives him a quick warning slap on the arm. “You want to attract the entire block over here?” she says. “My bad, but don’t hit me.” “I barely touched you.” “Don’t touch me. That’s rule number one.” He manages a mischievous grin as he glances at her, but it quickly fades. “Come on, I’m trying to lighten the mood a little bit. We found people. This is good.” “I know it’s good. But joking’s the last thing I want to do right now.” He nods respectfully, then turns his focus to Adam and Chloe. They’re close enough now that he can make out their faces. “Holy shit, man, good to see you out here,” Duke says, clapping Adam on the shoulder. “What happened to you? You look out of it,” Adam says. Duke still has a dazed, hazy look in his eyes. “Ah...some guy hit me in my head. I’m good, though, I’m alright. You guys are okay, too, right?” “Fine. Not hurt, as far as we know,” Chloe says. A heavy silence falls over them. They know they’re alright, but the bittersweet reality is everyone else’s fate is up in the air. “What do we do now?” Lucy finally asks. They look at each other, hoping someone else has a definitive answer. Truth is, no one knows. But Adam is the first to say anything: “We...find somewhere else.” Category:Dead Frontier Category:Dead Frontier Issues Category:Issues Category:Walkerbait22's Stories